MONTREAL - Nick Price is one of the greatest strikers of the ball golf has ever seen, and he is among those baffled by a great player’s obsession to change his swing.

The World Golf Hall of Famer didn’t mention Tiger Woods by name, but the former world No. 1 certainly came to mind after Price’s comments.

“It’s a mystery to me why someone who could dominate so much would want to change anything,” Price said Wednesday. “We’re always trying to get better, but sometimes guys try to make a quantum leap instead of putting one foot in front of the other. That’s when they get into trouble.”

Price, an 18-time winner on the PGA Tour – including three majors and two Canadian Opens – added his name to a growing and impressive list of players committed to play in the third edition of the Montreal Championship, slated for June 22-24 at Richelieu Valley. It will be Price’s first trip to Montreal since 2001, when he tied with Woods for 23rd at the Canadian Open at Royal Montreal.

Mark O’Meara, the 1995 Canadian Open champion, also committed on Wednesday for the $1.8-million Champions Tour event. It will be his first tournament in Montreal since 2001.

Price, a 55-year-old native of Durban, South Africa, was the best player in the world in the mid-1990s. He topped the PGA Tour money list in 1993 and ’94 with records for single-season earnings each year and spent 43 weeks atop the Official World Golf Rankings. Price’s best season was 1994, when won the British Open and PGA Championship before capturing his second Canadian Open at Glen Abbey to cap a six-win season.

In a conference call from his home in Jupiter, Fla., Price admitted to having tinkered with his swing, but that was long before he established himself as one of the best players in the game.

“I did that early in my career,” he said. “I was a very streaky player. When I was on, I played really well. But it didn’t happen enough for me.

“When I started working with (David) Leadbetter back in 1982, I basically tried to refine my golf swing to make it efficient without any extraneous moves, which I had plenty of before working with (the renowned swing coach). I just tried to streamline my golf swing.”

Price recalled that when he was playing his best golf, Arnold Palmer said to him: “Whatever you do, don’t change anything.”

Price didn’t.

“I think it’s one of the reasons in that five-year period I played as well as I did,” he said. “I just kept working on all the idiosyncrasies that sort of crept into my game.

“It’s very difficult to change one’s golf swing,” Price added. “You get into bad habits. You get lazy with your posture and lazy with the discipline of your address position, ball position, all those sorts of things.

“The thing we tell all the amateurs we play with to be wary of in the golf swing is the address, setup and posture. We are as guilty as they are, because we get into bad habits, too.”

Price figured “bad habits” have contributed to a forearm injury he is currently rehabilitating with physiotherapy. It began with tennis elbow and ultimately led to two torn tendons.

“My posture got really bad, and with any sort of tennis elbow injury it’s the result of your arm doing too much work,” he said.

Price, who has won four times on the Champions Tour since joining the 50-and-over circuit in 2007, said the injury has affected his play this season. He has managed only one top-10 finish, a tie for seventh at the Allianz Championship in mid-February, and had to withdraw in his last appearance a month ago.

Price hasn’t hit balls for five weeks, but received the green light from his physiotherapist on Wednesday and expects to start some light hitting next week.

Like many of us, Price tuned into the struggles of Kevin Na last weekend at The Players Championship. Na, who held a one-shot lead after 54 holes, came unglued with endless waggles, half-swings and intentional whiffs of the ball before almost every shot before finishing five shots back, tied for seventh.

Na, who was warned for slow play, angered his playing partners, verbally admonished himself and felt the ire of spectators. He attributed his struggles with trying to get comfortable with a new pre-shot routine.

Price figures it was more than that.

“I think the guy was fighting off demons,” he said. “That’s what it looked like the way he was backing off. You have so much going through your head when you’re not playing well. When you’re playing well, you keep the game as simple as you possibly can.

“One of the things I learned way back was to pull the trigger as soon as I was ready. Of course, I’ve always played the game pretty quickly. Once I’ve been through my thought process and made my decision, I get over the ball and pull the trigger quickly.

“I think it’s kind of like a disease, where if you let it get out of hand it’s very hard to rectify. If I had any advice for Kevin Na, I’d just say try to simplify your thought process and pull the trigger a little quicker, because indecision is the root of many, many bad shots.”

He said it: “I’m trying to get comfortable with my waggles. It’s usually a little waggle, half waggle, little waggle, half waggle, and boom, supposed to pull the trigger. But if it doesn’t work, I’ve got to go in pairs. So it’ll go four, and if it doesn’t work, it’ll go six, and after that, just ... there’s a lot going on in my head.

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.

Almost Done!

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.